Tuesday, January 08, 2013

A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.

"Meant to be together forever" -- sounds like a Bieber joint, yes? This Jesus cover boy, Christopher West, goes in for the usual Anti Sex League ordnance -- he counsels "infinite bliss" over rim jobs, and asks leading questions like "can’t we see that such a notion of choice is actually the negation of freedom?" But he has a softer, daisy-strewing side, too, and rhapsodizes that "art is the language of the heart." Kathryn J. Lopez asks him if there's any art around now that he likes; he replies,

I’m not an art critic. I can only speak to what moves me personally. And I’d have to say that today, in the specific sense of right now, I am stunned by the artistry expressed in the movie adaptation of the musical Les Misérables. I saw it three times in its first week of release. Treat yourself and go see this movie.

Roger Scruton he ain't. Instead of having to beg change all the time ("National Review is not a non-profit — we are just not profitable"), NR should just convert to a pictoral format a la Tiger Beat.

The news segment showed [West] calling for Catholics to complete “what the sexual revolution began.” He also described “very profound” historical connections between Hugh Hefner and Pope John Paul II.

West spoke to CNA on Friday, claiming the report somewhat sensationalized his views. He also denied several characterizations conveyed by the news story, explaining that he believed Hefner to be right in rejecting “the disease of Puritanism” but radically wrong in beginning the “pornographic revolution.”

He had told ABC that Hefner had a "yearning," an "ache" and a "longing" for love, union and intimacy.

the argument between Dr. Scott Hahn and Christopher West on the set of “Franciscan University Presents” which turned Dr. Hahn into a “closet critic” of West and his theology after West disagreed with Hahn when Hahn said the proper response if he was to see his colleague's naked wife's would be to turn his eyes away.

His colleague's naked wife's what, I'd like to know. Maybe it was something innocent, like a tax-exempt contribution.

UPDATE 2. Oh wait, they explain further down:

... [Dr. Scott Hahn] told West that if he were to see a friend’s wife [the friend being fellow panellist Dr. Regis Martin] naked, it would be his responsibility to look away. West responded, ‘No, it would be to not lust.’ [Hahn] and West took turns repeating themselves until the moderator called for a break in the program.

You gotta admit, it beats This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

Also from that same report: "James J. Simons, who by his own admission listened to West over 100 times... argued that it is right to baptize people naked in front of an entire church so everyone can see them and it is right for women to read in church topless." Next time a conservative starts going off about wacky liberal arts courses, I'll bring this up.

UPDATE 3. "And, as if on cue," comments Alexander von Humbug, "Sullivan quotes West approvingly." Looks like there's a big PR push for West among the sort of people who would like him, and I wonder why, as they could disseminate the book as effectively by just handing out copies at David Brooks' parties. It's not like normal people will ever give a shit.

K-Lo's quest to use NRO as a platform for spiritual self-help (hopefully, maybe, perhaps leading to wedded sexual bliss) has always been apparent, but maybe she should have consulted the Catholic News Agency first before launching this interview. The god-botherers there seem to think West is something of a libertine.

Still and all, is this not simply a continuation of a theme first introduced in The National Review by William F. Buckley? That Catholicism and conservatism are the best of fuck-buddies because that's the natural order of things?

Aside from that, what else is West but another huckster, selling sex to Opus Dei wannabes?

I am stunned by the artistry expressed in the movie adaptation of the musical Les Misérables

So, when the inevitable arrives and he's arrested at a Motel 6 somewhere in Florida with an underage rent boy and a 6-month supply of crystal meth, which NR hack will be assigned the task of explaining how it's all Obama's fault?

You know, I'm a recovering Catholic myself, but my altar boy days are far enough behind me that I can easily forget just how creepy that shit is. I mean, West is actually being taken to task for promoting a vision of sexuality that isn't sufficiently suffused with shame and dread. It just boggles the mind.

Look, I've had a few discussions like this myself around a refectory table or in the sacristy, where you use the professional jargon as a shorthand. But in the real world, who _talks_ like that? Even a National Review reader isn't going to be convinced by this.

If you're someone who wants to believe that his decision to deny himself what he wants out of life isn't just a moral sacrifice, it's somehow the best option available, then yes, you will find yourself convinced by that.

But no, it doesn't work on normal people. Contrary to wingnut belief, 1984 was not an instruction manual.

Christopher West: "Today freedom has come to mean license to do whatever one chooses. 'Choice,' in fact, has come to mean 'any choice is a good choice.'" I'll have to disagree with Mr. West. My choice to read this idiotic interview, for example, is one that I profoundly regret.

This coming on the heels of this morning's post on sexuality might make some wonder about this blog's fixation.I would put both K-Lo and Maggie G. as the poster people for a series of public-service announcements that too much sexual shame leads to severe mental troubles.

"James J. Simons, who by his own admission listened to West over 100 times... argued that it is right to baptize people naked in front of an entire church so everyone can see them and it is right for women to read in church topless."

Perhaps by "topless" he really meant "hatless" with regard to I Corinthians 11:6. (I bet he meant topless, though. Turn to the Page 3 Girl in your Daily Hymnal.)

This reminds me of a story one of my teachers told me about getting in trouble in high school. When told "don't let an hour of pleasure lead to a lifetime of pain," he raised his hand and asked "how do you make it last an hour?"

[Dr. Scott Hahn] told West that if he were to see a friend’s wife [the friend being fellow panellist Dr. Regis Martin] naked, it would be his responsibility to look away. West responded, ‘No, it would be to not lust.’

"... which isn't as difficult as it sounds. Have you seen Regis' wife?"

Fucking hell it does not. Sexual freedom is not some infinite buffet of libertinism where we're all paralyzed, unable to choose between the Amsterdam Red Light Weekend and the double wetsuit 18-80 scat party. It's a general directive that you should be able to do what gets you off* without having to worry about creeps like Christopher West tut-tutting through a crack in the blinds.**

*some restrictions apply; get consent, don't endanger anyone, don't be an asshole (unless your partner(s) have made it clear they're into that)

Oh my god, that was so worth logging on for. I find my children are still young enough to laugh uproriously at very old jokes, having heard them for the first time. Now I'm discovering that, old though I am, I'm in the same boat.

The DVR for whatever reason randomly records the Franciscan University and one time who should show up to help chew the fat but K-Lo! But the priest and two perfessers gasbagged most of the time away leaving K-Lo to bleat a few unmemorables about journalistic responsibility and leave the viewers with the impression she writes commentary on Catholic dormitory rules.

I, too, got out of the boat. It was one of the saddest things I've ever read. Not even kidding. I often feel that way when I read Catholic theology because its so..dry and cold and cruel. The widowed theologian who thinks there was no sex in the garden of eden rather than no shame. Who thinks that Jesus was sacrificed on the cross and it didn' tmake a bit of difference. The two of them convinced that sainthood, though not for everyone, is really the highest goal of each individual and that sexual love is or should be profoundly not enjoyed for its own sake.Jews be crazy and when I go on a kick reading the Pirke Avot or any commentaries I generally leave shaking my head and vowing to have nothing to do with my own people. But on matters sexual? Its a god damned mitzvah to make love with your spouse. Bringing pleasure to your spouse is a positive duty. So much so that you *must* use birth control (if you are a Jewish man) and pregnancy or childbirth would endanger your wife. So much so that making love on the Sabbath is enjoined upon you as another mitzvah.

If you get very, very, very, far down in the weeds and follow all those links you come to the heart of it. Mr. West's error was in postulating that marriage and sexual love are very important to the way g-d wants the world to be organized. But that doesn't leave enough time for other people to worry about death and resurrection. Anything that takes away from the contemplation of death? Not orthodox. Rather, leading to a spirit of rupture.

I suppose the fact that I gave more "ups" to these comments than any other recent set shows what a dirty mind I have. (And the fact that you're just now deciding which of five possible "up" jokes to make says the same about you.)

"James J. Simons, who by his own admission listened to West over 100 times... argued that it is right to baptize people naked in front of an entire church so everyone can see them and it is right for women to read in church topless."

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